On June 26, artificial intelligence captured the imagination of some at Money20/20 in Copenhagen. But during the June 27 sessions on the second day, it was like I had stepped back in time to November 2016, reported Deputy Editor Antony Peyton. Last year, at the Payments International conference in London, PSD2 left some in the payments industry confused as to where the risks and opportunities lie.
Visa is investing in Klarna, a Swedish payments and banking firm, and the two firms intend “to develop a future strategic partnership”.
Retail payments have taken another step into the future. Payment processor Payscout has launched a virtual reality system that employs Visa Checkout and enables consumers to examine products before ordering them for delivery to shoppers’ homes.
Cross-border payments and receivables specialist Flywire has added PayPal to its platform as a funding option, enabling businesses, students and patients to fund cross-border payments via PayPal accounts. PayPal now is available as a payment method for Flywire users in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and European Union, Flywire said.
One-fourth of Americans say they have too much debt, with 96 percent of them reporting they are financially stressed, according to a survey by the Center for Financial Services Innovation to gauge Americans’ financial well-being. While those statistics are bleak, they should signal an opportunity for banks, credit unions, fintechs and other companies to provide products, services and guidance to improve consumers’ financial stability, according to Jennifer Tescher, founder and CEO of CFSI.
Israel’s Bank Leumi has launched its new digital banking subsidiary, Pepper.
Wirecard AG has launched a new POS service that integrates self-learning technology to help retailers increase customer conversion, reduce attrition rates, predict future consumer behavior and link points of sale with e-commerce.
The U.K. needs more competition in its retail payments infrastructure. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the country’s Payment Systems Regulator.
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
The NBPCA’s Power of Prepaid Conference kicked off in Washington, D.C., on June 22, with discussion of the prepaid industry’s most pressing challenge, regulatory uncertainty. One of the highlights of the morning sessions, however, was the presentation of the third annual Terrence P. Maher Prepaid Influencer Award to Walt Henderson, director of EFT strategy division at the U.S. Department of Treasury. Henderson has managed the Treasury’s benefits disbursement prepaid program from its inception, overseeing substantial growth and consistently high customer satisfaction.
A new report indicates that retailers and brands have a powerful channel to distribute digital coupons and loyalty cards via mobile wallets: wallet users themselves. An analysis of Apple Wallet users by mobile engagement specialist Urban Airship found that every digital coupon or loyalty card a user installed on the wallet was shared to an average of 3.3 other mobile devices.
Curve and its all-cards-in-one Curve Mastercard and accompanying banking app apparently has struck a chord with small businesses and freelancers. More than 50,000 SMEs have signed up for the London-based startup’s program, which recorded £50 million (US$63.3 million) in user spending since the beta period began last year.
Dankort, the national debit card of Denmark, has made shopping easier for consumers using iPhones.
Mastercard and Western Union have teamed up to help refugees around the world access goods, services and financial services within refugee settlements. Announced on June 20—World Refugee Day—the partnership will explore ways to use a digital model to serve the more than 65 million people around the world currently displaced from their homes due to political conflict and natural disasters.
Cybereason, a Boston-based cybersecurity startup, continues to rake in the cash, with the latest capital infusion coming from SoftBank Corp. The Japanese telecom and Internet service provider has invested $100 million in Cybereason, according to a June 21 announcement.
Even when serving in senior manager and director roles with the likes of American Express and TSYS early in his career, Rick Oglesby, AZ Payments Group president, always felt he was destined to be a payments consultant. That vision came true in 2011, and you don’t have to spend too much time with him before his love of consultancy work—helping companies succeed while establishing and nurturing relationships—becomes apparent and likely is the reason why he was selected as one of the industry’s Top Payments Consultants.
Swift is offering funding of up to €200,000 for the two winning fintech finalists of its industry challenge to develop new overlay services that use its global payments innovation (gpi) platform. The winners will work with banks on collaborative concepts that solve additional industry challenges in cross-border payments on top of gpi. As reported previously, […]
Rabobank is modernising and centralising its cross-border payments operations. The software supplier for the new payments hub is Finastra (formerly Misys and D+H).
Amsterdam-based mobile network operator and technology company VEON has partnered with Wirecard AG as part of a global payments and processing agreement. Wirecard, a Germany-based provider of global payments solutions, now manages third-party payments functionality and airtime top-up on VEON’s Internet platform, enabling customers to upload funds and update mobile payment accounts within seconds, according to an announcement.
Facing disruption from fintech providers, traditional banks must embrace APIs and the open-source model to avoid losing their place at the center of consumers’ financial lives, a new report warns. Capgemini’s 2017 World Retail Banking Report polled thousands of retail banking customers around the world to gauge how the rise of fintech-based financial services has changed the game when it comes to banking.
Eight fledgling fintech companies have won $250,000 each from the Center for Financial Services Innovation. Each FinLab winner in this third annual competition from the CFSI receives $250,000 in capital, along with resources to test, enhance and scale their products, in part via the expertise of JPMorgan Chase, a founding lab partner.
BBVA and start-up Das-Nano have formed Veridas, a new firm specialising in biometrics for client identification and authentication systems. Veridas, which will be directed by Eduardo Azanza, who is also co-founder of Das-Nano, will research and develop software for the digital verification and authentication of personal identity, through facial, voice, image or document recognition, or […]
This year’s Banking Technology Awards are taking place on 13 December in London and once again we will be recognising individuals for leading and playing an instrumental role in devising and/or delivering the technology strategy to support the key business objectives of an organisation. The Tech Leadership Award category is open to all industry participants worldwide – those […]
Richard Steggall didn’t even set foot in the U.S. until he was approaching 30. So, what prompted the native Aussie by way of London to set up a fintech shop in New York—first as Waspit, then as Urban FT, the SaaS-based digital payments platform he now heads? It was, of course, American optimism.
Brian Tate has been named president and CEO of the NBPCA, replacing Brad Fauss, who in May stepped down from his role at the helm of the prepaid industry association to join Wirecard North America. Tate has served with the NBPCA since 2013 as vice president of government affairs, helping lead the organization’s legislative and regulatory policy agenda, including managing the federal political strategy and building relationships with policymakers on the national and state levels.
More than $809 billion is set to switch to the fledgling instant payments system in Europe by 2027, representing a significant threat to cards, according to a new report from Ovum, a London-based consultancy. Instant, or real-time, payments enable account-to-account bank transfers in seconds instead of days.
Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week, Anita Liu Harvey, VP for strategy and innovation at Barclaycard, fires us in the direction of “the magic bullets of future retail”. […]
Know any innovative products, inspirational projects, skilled teams or visionary leaders that deserve a special recognistion this year? Nominate them for a Banking Technology Award!
No, cash is hardly sexy, not in this era of mobile payments, bitcoin and biometrics. But here’s some proof about its endurance.
The CFPB has issued a request for comment on proposed changes to its final rule on prepaid accounts that would adjust requirements for resolving errors on unregistered accounts and provide greater flexibility for credit cards linked to digital wallets.
ACH payments are on course for exponential growth in the government sector, reducing costs for agencies and appealing to younger consumers.
Probably not. Even so, the case for virtual prepaid accounts is growing stronger. A journey through the landscape—including a stop at a recent Apple conference—shows why.
Today, June 14, Paybefore reveals the Best-in-Category winners in 21 categories and the two recipients of its highest individual recognition, Industry Achievement, for the 2017 Pay Awards.
Global payment and risk management solutions provider AFEX has appointed Wayne Mitchell as general manager, EMEA.
Digital banking solutions provider Fidor Solutions has named Geert Ensing to the role chief information officer.
Mayer Brown LLP has added Nicolette Kost De Sevres to the firm’s Washington D.C., office, where she will serve as a partner in the litigation and dispute resolution practice.
Arthur Kirsten has joined mobile money transfer provider MFS Africa as head of risk and compliance.
Social money transfer provider Moneymailme has appointed Mark Bolsom as business development director.
nexo Standards, the global industry association dedicated to enabling fast, interoperable and borderless payments acceptance, has elected a new board of directors at its recent general assembly.
Misys and DH Corporation (D+H) have joined forces to create Finastra, the third largest financial services technology company in the world. As reported in March, D+H was acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $3.6 billion. The venture capital firm, which owns UK-based banking software vendor Misys, beat rival Advent International to acquire D+H. Finastra will […]
